At first glance, it does not seem as though conducting a content analysis seems very daunting. On the other hand, after getting some class time to actually perform a small content analysis, I found that the process is much more involved than the readings made it seem.
I chose an article from the Tallahassee Democrat about the proposed closure of Apalachicola Bay to oyster harvesting. I started by examining the framework the author used, trying to determine if the story was framed using an environmental perspective, an economic perspective, a social perspective, etc. After I determined which framework was used to write the article, I started pulling statements either written by the author or from interviews with users of the Bay to support the framework and began to write research questions from there.
A proper content analysis requires a lot of time and re-evaluation of prior thoughts about content. I wasn’t sure if I was doing this activity the right way when I started, but I think I’ve found a way to help organize and orient myself to conducting a content analysis. This method of qualitative analysis will certainly prove useful to me as I continue in my program.